As wage stagnation and cost-of-living issues continue to feature in the federal election campaign, a new report shows Australia has experienced the greatest deceleration in real pay growth in the OECD since 2013, despite its relatively strong employment growth and low unemployment, suggesting that policy and institutional factors are the main culprit, rather than market forces.
NSW public school teachers will strike next Wednesday over "unmanageable" workloads and a "contemptuous" 2.04% salary cap proposed in the face of teacher shortages, with their union also warning that visits by State Government MPs will prompt walkouts.
A FWC full bench has agreed to inspect nursing homes when it starts hearing an aged care work value case later this month, while Labor has backpedalled on a plan to require facilities to roster registered nurses on 24/7 by July next year.
Striking NSW paramedics and hospital workers will on Thursday add to mounting pressure on the Perrottet Government to ditch its 2.5% cap on public sector pay rises, deliver a significant catch-up increase, update awards and open up productivity-based bargaining.
Victoria's Andrews Labor Government is calling for an increase of at least the CPI - currently 3.5% - to the federal minimum wage and all modern award rates on the basis that consumer price inflation movements mean anything less would be a pay cut.
A large employer organisation has called for the FWC to award minimum pay rises of 2.5% to 3% to help maintain living standards amid rising inflation, albeit with pay rises delayed for industries hardest hit by the pandemic.
The ACTU will pursue a 5% increase across all award rates in this year's minimum wage review, arguing it is needed to compensate workers for cost of living pressures.
Private sector rates of pay excluding bonuses increased by 2.4% annually in the December quarter, unchanged from the September quarter, but accelerated slightly over the last three months of the year, according to the ABS.
The FWC has warned employers that the "clock is ticking" for Work Choices "zombie" agreements in rebuffing a large employer's bid to keep a 2008 flat-rate deal operating until May or June, coinciding with the 10-year anniversary of its nominal expiry.